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Former GJHS star Musgrave promoted to assistant head coach with Falcons

By {screen_name}
Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Bill Musgrave has had a lot of titles in football since he was the starting quarterback at Grand Junction High School in 1985.

During his playing career in the NFL, Musgrave was a back-up to Hall of Fame quarterbacks Steve Young and John Elway.

He’s been a position coach for the Oakland Raiders, a college assistant at Virginia, offensive coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars and the quarterbacks coach for the Atlanta Falcons.

Tuesday, Musgrave added another title: Assistant head coach of the Falcons.

Musgrave, 42, will continue to coach the quarterbacks.

“Bill has been an integral part of this coaching staff and this is a well deserved promotion,” Falcons head coach Mike Smith said in a statement released by the team. “We will look to utilize his tremendous amount of coaching experience for years to come.”

Musgrave has been with the Falcons since 2006, and has been recognized for the development of Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan. Musgrave was also reported to be a candidate for other NFL jobs, but opted to stay in Atlanta.

This past season was Musgrave’s 18th as a player or coach in the NFL.

Musgrave was unavailable for comment Tuesday, but during a 2009 interview with The Daily Sentinel, he said he’s grateful for how things have worked out in the NFL.

“Things have really fallen into place for me,” Musgrave said. “I’ve gotten a lot of breaks along the way.”

Although he’s happy in Atlanta, Musgrave’s promotion could be the next step to becoming an NFL head coach.

“Most assistant coaches have long-term goals of being a head coach one day,” Musgrave said in 2009. “I think I’m included in that group, but I don’t focus on it every day.

“I’m from the school of thought that I need to do a good job in my current position, and if things align, I might get an opportunity down the line.”